


Adoption

by Rikkamaru



Series: Shadow Hands [4]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball, Naruto
Genre: Gen, Naruto AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-23
Updated: 2014-08-23
Packaged: 2018-02-14 08:42:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2185212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rikkamaru/pseuds/Rikkamaru
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Seijuurou, younger brother of Akasuna no Sasori, meets the one man his brother may actually trust to take care of him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Adoption

Seijuurou looked around the village he and his brother were in curiously. "They're recovering well from the Kyuubi," he said aloud, and his brother hummed in agreement. There were still upturned earth near where the beast had been seen and crushed buildings, but repairs were already underway and the village gave no outward sign of weakness.

"It is the stubbornness of Leaf ninja that makes them such highly valued allies," he brother told him, and it was clearly from personal experience.

"Is that why we're here? To meet with one of our allies?"

"One of _my_ allies," his brother corrected, before pausing and amending, "though from what I've heard from some of the Merchant Guild members, he has extended a kindness to them that will give him their allegiance. None the less, he is an ally and almost friend that I made during the Third Shinobi War."

Seijuurou frowned slightly. "I see." They continued in silence to an apartment, and his brother knocked on the door. There was a pause before the door was opened.

The man that appeared was rather tall, with black hair and bloodshot grey eyes. He looked at the two of them in disbelief for a moment before rubbing his eyes and checking again. When they remained standing there he huffed out a slight laugh. "Only you would do something like this and not even bother to appear the slightest bit remorseful about it, Sasori." He said tiredly, moving to the side to let them both enter.

Sasori gave the man a very slight smile. "Apologies for not giving you prior notice, Shuuzou, but I wasn't expecting you to be in such straits at this time."

"You would look like this too if you suddenly had enough paperwork for two separate clans suddenly dumped on your head," the man shot back, closing the door and leading them to the sitting room where a cup of tea was laid out along with the teapot itself and, sure enough, a few stacks of papers. Shuuzou shot the papers a dark look before going into the kitchen and returning with two more cups that he placed in front of them and filled.

"Apparently the Kuroko and Nijimura hadn't completely merged yet," Shuuzou complained, taking a sip of his tea and handing Seijuurou a dispenser of honey when he wrinkled his nose at his cup. "So I have to deal with the paperwork of two separate clans, the paperwork with regards to _merging_ the same two clans, and the general trade agreements the Nijimura get on a regular basis. I don't think I've slept in a week."

Sasori chuckled a little. "That's unfortunate. Sadly, Shuuzou, I am not here just to bask in your company. I wish to call on a favor."

"Name it," Shuuzou answered back easily, growing focused at Sasori's serious tone.

"I need you to adopt Seijuurou into your clan."

The room fell completely silent as Seijuurou tried to process what his brother just said. He looked at Sasori. "Nii-sama…why?"

Sasori looked at his younger brother for a moment and sighed. "I'm tired of that old woman telling us what to do, Seijuurou," he said, fiddling idly with his tea cup. "You need a chance to grow without my shadow or our grandmother hanging over you, and living in Konoha with Shuuzou would ensure that."

"Why can't I just keep living with you?" Seijuurou asked desperately, but his brother wouldn't look at him and Shuuzou had to say it.

"You're going to go rogue, aren't you?" Sasori nodded slightly and the noirette let out a sigh. "I had a feeling you were thinking about it when we talked during the war, but I wasn't sure you'd go through with it. I know there's nothing I can say that'll stop you, but know that you're always welcome to my house, so long as you try to not kill the guards while you're getting in. I also have something for you, so please wait a moment; I'll return momentarily."

The Clan Head stood and walked to where Seijuurou presumed his office was, leaving the brothers in an awkward silence. Seijuurou looked up at his older brother in distress before sighing and steeling his resolve. "Will you be safe?"

Sasori shot him a look. "No Seijuurou, I won't. I'll likely be hunted for abandoning the village, and they'll probably spend a few years looking for a way to get you back as well. But they won't be able to touch you if you're properly adopted into the Nijimura clan, and that's what I'm aiming for now."

"But why are you leaving?"

"I've been experimenting on ways to live forever. To become true art." The older boy smiled, obviously enjoying the idea, before he frowned in annoyance. "The Council however wouldn't approve of my methods and it's only a matter of time until they find out what I've been doing. It's therefore for the best that I leave and continue my research away from the confining restrictions of our village. And who knows; maybe I'll return, if the right circumstances push me."

Seijuurou hesitated before nodding in acceptance. "Alright Nii-sama; I'll stay here with Shuuzou-nii. Try to come back one day."

Content with how the conversation went, the two didn't have to wait long before Shuuzou came back, a thin box in his hands. Clinging to the back of his Yukata was a small blue-haired boy who stared at the redheads with unabashed curiosity. He looked to be four or five, three years younger than Seijuurou. Sasori gazed back at the child, just as curious. "That is the young boy you found in that ransacked village, is it not."

Shuuzou nodded. "Yup. He woke up from his nap while I was walking by the children's room. Anyway, as the Head of the Nijimura Clan and regent of the Kuroko Clan until my brother is of age, I wish to give you this, and name you a friend of the clan." He tossed the box over to Sasori who caught it easily and opened it.

When his brother didn't respond immediately Seijuurou leaned over and looked into the box himself. It was a necklace. It had a simple leather cord and only had an oval-shaped ruby hanging from it with a grey pearl fastened in the center of the oval. It sparkled in the apartment lighting and Seijuurou was sure he could see chakra glittering in the jewel.

"So long as you wear that or keep it in your possession you will be acknowledged as a friend of the Nijimura Clan." Nijimura explained. "There is a seal inside the crystal that will act as a homing beacon if you put your chakra in it which only a member of the clan can sense. Use it only in a state of emergency."

"I'm honored." Sasori finally said, his voice neutral but sincere and Shuuzou accepted it as such.

They continued talking about various things that ranged from Konoha's plans to recover from the Kyuubi attack to Suna's overall state while the brothers were there to what Seijuurou should be taught as he lives with Shuuzou. Sasori insisted that his younger brother receive training as a puppeteer, or at least the information needed to self-train as a puppeteer and Shuuzou agreed easily with that, under the condition that Sasori be the one to provide that information as it would be suspicious for Shuuzou to ask for such a thing, which Sasori in turn agreed to.

While they were talking Seijuurou got the feeling they were being watched, and not just by the blue haired boy who was watching the teens with a bored look on his face only to light up when Shuuzou gave him a spoonful of honey. The feeling persisted for a few minutes and Seijuurou soon found himself hunching into his older brother's side.

Sasori looked at him in surprise as the brothers were not very physically affectionate but Shuuzou seemed to understand what was going on and groaned a little. "Tetsuya, stop eavesdropping on conversations that aren't even private and come meet the newest member to the family."

There was a pause before a blue haired boy a few years older than Seijuurou appeared right beside Shuuzou, causing the younger redhead to make a surprised sound and Sasori to raise an eyebrow in fascination. "And this must be your prodigious brother. He graduated a year early correct?"

Shuuzou nodded. "At the age of nine, yes. They of course changed the graduation years from 4-8 to 6-10 during the war and of course, with the Kyuubi Incident, they'll likely increase it again to 8-12 for some random reason. Mom and dad were proud, for the two years they were alive to be so. I never doubted him for a second." Shuuzou smiled proudly and Seijuurou was surprised to feel a small burr of jealousy in his heart for the quietly beaming light blue-haired boy.

They filled out the paperwork to have Seijuurou properly adopted into the Nijimura clan and Sasori nodded his thanks as he put away the paper. "I'll submit the paperwork right away. In a month I'm leaving Sunagakure for the foreseeable future and Seijuurou will live with you." He stood and picked Seijuurou up. As he headed to the door Sasori paused and turned to his friend. "Take care, Shuuzou."

"And you, Sasori. Know that you're always welcome here."

Sasori nodded again and the brothers left to return to Suna.

A month later, Sasori went rogue, and Seijuurou watched curiously as the council debated over his fate. "We should let Chiyo-sama raise the child to be able to combat against Sasori," one of them argued. "He could come back at any time and we'll need a Puppet Master on par with Chiyo-sama in case he returns should she die."

"That sounds fair," another concurred. "Are there any sort of agreements or documents on what should be done with Seijuurou-kun after Sasori left the village?"

There was a shuffling of paper as the clerk looked through the village records for Seijuurou's profile and the measures to be taken upon Sasori's departure. What all of them expected to just say that Seijuurou would live with his grandmother was proven wrong as the clerk paled a little and shakily laid down the paper. "According to this," he said shakily, "Seijuurou is to be given to Nijimura Shuuzou of Konohagakure upon Sasori's desertion."

There was a pause throughout the room as the council tried to drink this fact in. His grandmother woke up first from her stunned stupor. " _What_?!" She screeched, snatching the paper up to read herself. Chiyo shook with the force of her rage. "That little brat," she seethed. "He planned this all out! I want this agreement made void!"

"We can't, Chiyo-sama," the clerk demurred, frightened for his own life. "The law says that any agreement made by a Suna nin prior to their desertion is incapable of being voided, so that they can't go back on any agreements that they made before going rogue. That includes transfer of guardianship."

"I will not have my grandson going to some no-name _Konoha_ ninja," she hissed venomously, and instantly a merchant puffed up.

"Nijimura-dono is not some no-name ninja," he snapped back, sitting up more in his chair. "His support is a staple to this village!"

"Oh?" Chiyo drawled, disbelieving. "How so?"

"Nijimura-dono is the main buyer of nearly all of our glassware and buys any gems we come across in the desert. He hires our people to mine any veins of minerals we find and buys those veins from us. He also hires our ninja to protect the caravans of those goods to Konoha and pays again for them to guard the returning caravan of money and jewelry and gem crafts that he trades for those wares. He single-handedly makes up about half of the regular trading we do in the village and goes to us before any other village in terms of our wares, and has sworn to do so as long as Suna and Konoha are allies and our prices are fair.

"Nijimura-dono may mean little to you shinobi," the merchant said contemptuously, "but to us merchants he is a trusted ally and friend, and I won't see you discredit him in my presence again."

There was a stilted silence at the man's last words, as Chiyo reluctantly sat back down and Seijuurou looked at the man with wide eyes. He hadn't known that Shuuzou had been making such large waves in Suna, though it did explain what his older brother had meant when he said that Shuuzou had gained the Merchant Guild's allegiance.

The rest of the council tried to argue against Seijuurou's placing with the gem crafter, but none of their arguments could hold water to their traditional laws and any further attempts to speak poorly of Shuuzou was met with brutal rebuffs by the merchant present.

A week later and Seijuurou found himself standing in front of the small compound Shuuzou had repaired and modified for less people, the redhead's ears ringing from the shouts and swears his grandmother had spewed when she learned of her inability to counter her eldest grandson's trickery. Despite that, Seijuurou couldn't keep his smile off of his face as Shuuzou welcomed him into the building with a warm smile.

This was his home now, and Seijuurou would make the best of it.


End file.
